Stefan previously served as Majority Counsel to the Committee on Banking and Financial Services of the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, DC. As a Committee staff member, Stefan was involved in the development and passage of several significant pieces of financial services legislation, including the “Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act” (GLBA) and the Credit Union Membership Access Act of 1998, which legislatively overturned the holding in National Credit Union Admin. v. First Nat’l Bank & Trust Co., 522 U.S. 479 (1998).

After leaving Capitol Hill, Stefan litigated “Winstar” claims in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims on behalf of financial institutions seeking hundreds of millions of dollars from the federal government for breach of contract in connection with the 1989 S&L bailout legislation, the Financial Institutions Reform Recovery and Enforcement Act (FIRREA). The legal theories supporting these claims were validated by the efforts of a Washington, DC, firm with which Stefan was associated. Those efforts included the successful representation of one of three lead appellees before the Supreme Court of the United States in the landmark government contracts case, United States v. Winstar, 518 U.S. 839 (1996). The Winstar decision has subsequently been cited in more than 3,200 other court decisions, secondary sources and legal briefs.